British broadcaster ITV brought back popular reality show ‘Love Island’ on Monday after it was taken off air following the death of former presenter Caroline Flack.
Flack, 40, who appeared on many of ITV’s biggest entertainment shows and won Britain’s version of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2014, was found dead in her London flat on Saturday.
She had stepped down from presenting ‘Love Island’ after she was charged with assaulting her boyfriend in December, a charge she denied.
The broadcaster cancelled Sunday’s show following her death.
Media reports quoted her lawyer as saying she had taken her own life.
“Many people at ITV knew Caroline well and held her in great affection,” an ITV spokesman said on Sunday. “All of us are absolutely devastated at this tragic news.
“After careful consultation between Caroline’s representatives and the ‘Love Island’ production team and given how close we still are to the news of Caroline’s tragic death we have decided not to broadcast tonight’s ‘Love Island’ out of respect for Caroline’s family.”
He said the dating show would return on Monday with a tribute to its former presenter who would “be forever in our hearts”.
Her management company said she had been “under huge pressure” since she was charged.
Flack’s death triggered an outpouring of emotion and grief from friends, celebrities and fans.
Laura Whitmore, who is presenting the current series of ‘Love Island’, paid tribute to her friend on BBC radio on Sunday.
“Caroline loved to love. That’s all she wanted,” she said.
“That’s why a show like ‘Love Island’ was important to her, because the show is about finding love, friendship, having a laugh.”
Meanwhile, Flack’s death has prompted nearly 350,000 people to sign a petition demanding tougher laws on the way the tabloid press covers celebrities.
The petition, signed by 346,000 people, called for a ban on the use of anonymous quotes, the invasion of privacy, publishing private information and releasing an individual’s medical or health records.
“This will better prevent self harm, suicide, substance abuse, and poor mental health,” the petition said. “Let’s stand together and once and for all make a change.”
‘Love Island’, one of Britain’s most popular television shows, brings together young single men and women who have to pair up in a sunshine-soaked villa to win fame. Their intimate relationships, including in the bedroom, are broadcast on television. The last surviving couple wins the show.
